THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET (1931) B/W 76m dir: Edgar Selwyn

w/Helen Hayes (debut in sound film), Lewis Stone, Neil Hamilton, Robert Young, Cliff Edwards, Jean Hersholt, Marie Prevost, Karen Morley, Charles Winninger, Alan Hale

Strong soap opera, with a script by Charles MacArthur (Hayes' husband), about a single mother struggling to survive by any means necessary.

From The Movie Guide: "Hayes won a well-deserved Oscar for this performance, taking her character from young girl to old woman with astonishing believability. The story piles twist upon emotional twist, coming close to self-parody, but audiences of the day loved the picture. The story had been made numerous times under the title MADAME X. Two silent versions were made in 1915 and 1920, while sound versions were made in 1929, 1937, 1948, 1960 (as THE TRIAL OF MADAME X), 1966, and 1981 as a television film."